Puppet
by JustRere
Summary: A power so great it can not act through it's own. He needs The Puppet, but will she come to him?
1. Prologue

A/N: Well, believe it or not, this came to me while I was watching "The Hulk."    
__________________________________________________________________________

"Mom!  Dad!  Gohan!  Trunks!  Mia!"  Goten ran as fast as he could.  The field was very long.  He could see the members of both the Briefs and Son households standing at the far end of the field, waving and smiling.   Why were they all just standing there at the other end?  Didn't they want to play with him?

_Goten continued running.  The grass in this field was tall and green, and there seemed to be every kind of flower growing here or there.  He tripped, and rolled through a patch of Iris, landing on his back.  Warm against his round face, the sun shown over the land.  All was so right with the world.  So…right._

_Suddenly it was cold.  What happened?  Why was the sun gone?  He rolled over onto his stomach, pushed himself up, and gazed at where his family stood.  They looked scared.  Why were they scared?  And where was Mia?  'I should go and play with them, then they won't be scared!' he thought.  He began running again, when a bolt of lightening crossed his path.  He fell back with a shout.  Acrid smoke filled his nose and made his eyes burn, as the dry grass was set aflame.  Now he was scared._

_With another flash of lightening, three shadows appeared before him.  One looked familiar, but through the smoke and the dark, he couldn't make it out.  His family, he needed his family.  But they were gone.  He didn't know when or how, but they had somehow gone._

_He stood again, no longer wearing his childlike clothes of years before, but a training gi that had once belong to no other than Son Goku.  He stood taller than before, too, about 3 feet taller.  He crouched low into a fighting position.  Somehow he knew he had to fight these people.  They were very bad.  They had hurt his loved ones._

_'They hurt Mother…' he thought, glaring at the three shadows.  A fourth shadow now arose on the horizon, engulfing everything in it's path.  'That is my true enemy,' he thought.  The shadow gained speed, moving farther over the land, trapping everything, like a moving black hole.  It was a few yards away when Goten ran.  He couldn't overcome this foe, not in his current state.  He powered up and flew, flew as fast as he could.  If he could get back to the base…  The shadow had engulfed its 3 companions, and was hot on his heels.  'NO!' he thought, 'I have to get back I HAVE TO SAVE THEM!  I HAVE TO PROTECT EVERYONE!!!'_

_Too late.  The shadow was upon him, like some great and terrible dark monster.  It devoured him, it consumed him.  He felt his flesh burning, every inch of his physical being was on fire!  He wanted to scream, wanted so badly to scream…  But it was hurting less.  Has his body burned away, his soul merged with the shadow…  Ah, it felt so good…so cold…_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!  MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!"  Five year old Goten sat up in his bed, screaming.

"Goten?"  Chichi ran into the room and hugged her youngest son.  "Goten, baby, you're pale as a sheet and…oh, you have a fever!  What's wrong, are you okay?  You're shaking so—Goten, Goten look at me, what happened?!"

"Night…mare…all…gone…"  He held his mother.  Suddenly he was back home, in the safety and warmth of Chichi's domain.  He knew that his mother would never let evil come into her home.  She would take good care of him, and they would be a happy family.  He laid back, while she went to get a cold rag for him.  Tomorrow he would feel better.  Perhaps tomorrow he would go play in the fields and meadows beyond his home.  Tomorrow would be beautiful…

________________________________________________________________________

A/N:  Well, this is interesting, what have we here?  I'm really excited about writing this story.  I've been planning and refining the characters and story line all day, and now I'm hoping it'll go out well.  I'll get chapter one up soon, it takes me a while to type while I've got…

DUN DUN DUN, DO DO, DAAAAA!  BURRITOS, BABAY!  ::munches happily:: ^_||' Oh yeah! ::victory sign::

Laters!  Btw, I know it's short but PLEASE…review…for me?  XD


	2. Sunsets

Mia: *walks onto the stage, the grand drape drawn behind her, a single spotlight illuminating her face*  I would like to take this time to thank all of my reviewers.  *pulls out a long scroll of paper that rolls down the aisle, out the door and around the corner*  Zia and Incubis.  You two shall be invited to the super secret ultra shabby party.  The rest of you non reviewers…*sighs* I understand…

Zia: *hands her a cookie* Here ya go, tree killer! ^_V  Stop wastin' paper.

Mia: *eats the cookie absently*

Incubis: *pops up out of…nowhere?*  It's okay little kitty!  ^_\\*taps her forehead*

Mia: *becomes Mia the Catgirl*  Aw crap, man…anyway, listen, I don't need your stinkin' reviews.  Why, if I had a nickel for ever review I had, I'd have 45 cents!  Truth be told, I simply don't ca—PLEASE!  I LOSE FRIENDS, SLEEP, AND HEALTH OVER WRITING THIS FIC, AND I NEED INPUT!  WORK WITH ME!

Incubis and Zia: *roll eyes, each grabbing an arm*

Mia: I'LL PAY YOU!  EVEN IF YOU LEAVE ME SOMETHING LIKE "FISH IS GOOD!"  C'MON!

Incubis: Sorry about this rant, folks!

Zia: Yeah, enjoy the fic! 

________________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 1 

It was a liquid more tempting than the finest wines, but it was not for drinking.  If it were consumed, it would roll gently along the tongue, creating a pleasant tingling sensation before burning its way down the intestines.  It would leave an after taste to rival any fool's nectar and ambrosia, and it would kill.  No, this wine was not to be used for cocktail parties.

A long, crooked finger withdrew from the potion, yet still it swirled vigorously.  Soon, the ripples and waves began to settle, and an image emerged.  The shape of a human was evident.  A closer look revealed a girl, no older than about fifteen years, sitting on a bench talking to someone.  Her long dark hair hung carelessly over her left eye, and seemed to melt into her form fitting black top.  Her right eye shown, black as death, with a glimmer of honey.  Her entire upper body was contrasted only slightly by the large, baggy green cargo pants, which seemed to be made of nothing but pockets.  She seemed like an average teenager.

"What a pretty girl…"  The voice belonged to the body attached to the finger now skirting the edge of the crystal bowl the liquid was held in.  As he trailed it along the rim of the bowl, the crystal began to sing a low, haunting note.  The chime mixed in his laugh.  A laugh like an old beggar's who had once been a charming nobleman.  "What a pretty girl indeed.  I think I shall make her mine, and call her…Puppet."

The image jiggled slightly, then the liquid swirled.  The man peering into the scene frowned.  It had found what he had been looking for, what more was there to see?  Finally it rested, this time a young boy no older than five was clear.  He wore a long sleeved blue shirt, with an orange training gi over it.  His hair went in just about every direction, and was of the deepest black hue.  Judging by the scenery around him, he was sitting on the ground about a foot away from where the girl was.  The liquid changed to clear, then tinted and distorted the picture with a violent blood red.  This boy would be dangerous.

"But a child," the man scoffed at the bowl before him, his eyes incredulous.  "You expect me to believe that he poses a threat?  He's not tall enough to gnaw at my knee caps…"  He laughed at his own joke.  Still, wary eyes stayed upon the silent film, and the laughing boy who would be his end…

________________________________________________________________________

"Goten, honey, eat your food."  Ever since his obviously disturbing nightmare, Goten hadn't spoken.  In fact, he hadn't opened his mouth at all, not even to eat.  The latter disturbed Chichi because as the son of Goku, she was used to him consuming vast quantities of food in a fraction of the time it took her to eat a normal sized helping.  "Don't you want to grow up big and strong, just like your brother?"

 "Mmhmm…" Goten mumbled absently.  In truth, he was painfully hungry, and had to hide a grimace from Chichi as his stomach gave a particularly painful growl of protest.  But his brain wouldn't listen.  All his energy was concentrated on deciphering his dream.  He picked it apart and put the pieces back together, and it seemed as if he had forgotten how to eat.  He pushed his chair out, abandoning the bowl of rice and shrimp that had gone untouched.

Outside, he was just in time to watch the sun set.  As he sat in the middle of the very same field from his dream, he stared at the burning sky.  A shadow rose over him, and for a minute he swore his dream was happening.  With terror, he whirled around only to discover Mia.  She looked down with a slightly amused yet kind smile.  '_Only Mia_,' he thought.  The girl standing above him was a face usually greeted with a warmth and respect reserved for his mother and brother.  Though she lived at the Capsule Corporation mansion, she was often at the Son residence; she helped Chichi, talked and sparred with Gohan, and occasionally played with Goten.  He had long since adopted her as an older sister, and couldn't imagine a life without her.

"Hey squirt," she said, sitting down on a bench against the side of the house.  She sighed, gazing at the dying sun.  "Pretty, isn't it?"

"Uh huh…"  He still didn't feel like talking much, but decided to open up a bit.  Just for Mia.

"Do you know what a phoenix is, Goten?"

He racked his memory, and came up with nothing.  "Uh uhn."

"Well, it's this mythical bird.  It lives its life like any other bird.  When it dies, it goes out in flames.  It just—poof!—catches on fire.  When it's all burned up, and there's nothing left but ashes, a bird egg appears.  Do you know what happens after a little bit?"

"What?"

"It hatches again.  Instead of dying, it just gets born again."  She smiled at his look of awe, knowing she had broken through his silent exterior.  "That's how I think of a sunset.  It's the sun's way of dying, with all that fire and showy stuff.  But the next day, just when you get tired of the darkness…it always rises again."

'_…Always rises again…'  _The words struck a cord deep within him and stayed there.  It almost seemed as if she knew the very thing he was agonizing over.  Which was why he told her about the dream, everything.  From the joy and freedom, to the cold, to her sudden disappearance, to the shadow that ate the world…

"And the worst thing is, that when the shadow thing ate me, I liked it.  I mean at first it felt bad like I was on fire on the inside and in, like, freezing cold water!  But then it changed.  I liked it all of a sudden, but I knew it was making me bad, and I wanted to do bad things…Mia?  Mia, you okay?"  His 'older sister' had gone pale as paper.  Sweat poured down her forehead.  For a moment her eyes, so laced with death in battle, so sparkling with honey any other time, were cold and distant.  And fearful.  Never before had she been fearful, not in front of Goten.

"What? Huh?"  He pulled her out of her trance.  But his dream…it was too vivid to be some child's nightmare, to be some product of factors his brain's undeveloped components couldn't comprehend, thus recycled in the cold of night.  The dread that had filled his eyes wasn't that of a child shook by the Boogey Man.  It was absolute terror.  And she felt it too.  She had had the same dream, only once he saw her disappear, she'd only joined one of the shadows that later attacked him.  But he couldn't know this, not yet anyway.  "Naw, squirt, just tired is all!"  She smiled, the sun reliving in her features.  "C'mon, I saw you left your food on the table, and you know how Gohan is when he comes back from the mountains.  He'll gobble it all up!"  As she said this, she tickled the sides of the young boy below her.

Rewarding her with a giggle, he got up and ran to the door.  '_Mia sure looked scared.  I wonder what scared her so bad,_' he thought.  Oddly enough, no worry clung to his thoughts.  Only childlike curiosity.  '_I bet she was just tired.  She was training with Gohan.  I wonder if they'll be too tired to play tonight…_'

Following behind him, Mia frowned.  '_Damn it, they're getting close.  I won't be able to escape this time.  But what could they want with Goten?  The only two people who could possibly be receiving the same frequency are the Puppet and—_'  A tiny gasp escaped her and words formed on her soft lips.  She allowed a thin breath of air to whisper: **"…The Revolutionary."**

________________________________________________________________________

A/N:  Well, well, look who fell.  (I stole that quote from my friend named "Fiverz."  If you end up reading this, bro, I'm kicking your butt for disappearing.)  Hey!  Just an interesting (or useless) piece of information: I wanted to introduce Mia in another fic before posting this one, but I wanted to see how the many readers (all two of 'em) would respond to her in an actual story, not just some crummy intro written for your information.  I suppose you could call this the second part of the prologue if you really wanted.  *shrug* I just call it Chapter 1.

Zia: Mia, are you going to let us go yet?

Mia: Nope.

Incubis: What did we do to you!

Mia:  I was busy ranting.  No one interrupts my rants…ducky.

Incubis: C'mon, we're your only two reviewers for this fic!  You need us!  AND I AM NOT A DUCK!

Mia: *cackle*

Zia: You do realize when we get out of here, I am going to cause you physical harm, don't you?

Mia: *scoff* I thought you were above petty threats.

[*The sound of thick ropes and heavy chains snapping can be heard*]

Mia: *sweatdrop*  Crap, uh, I just realized I've some very important author business to attend to…Uhm, yeah…See ya, would DEFINITELY wanna be ya right now!  ^_|| *bolts the heck out of there*

  
Zia: *follows, a semi-conscious Incubis dragging along by her ankle, still fully tied up*  DAMN!!  I'LL GET YOU, MIA, IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEHEHEHEHEOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! *shakes a fist at her*  _V

Incubis: Zia, can I go now… T_\\

Zia: Hush you.  *to reader* Review this girl's stuff, out of respect for the PRACTICALLY DEAD! *runs off*


End file.
